ABUJA – A member of the Organising Committee (OC) of the 2014 National Engineering Games, Mr Ovens Ehimatie, on Monday said the Games’ fourth edition would have athletes participating in 11 sports.
Ehimatie, in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said this was an improvement on the eight sports featured at the Games’ second and third editions.
The 2014 Games, whose opening ceremony was held on Aug. 13, will end on Nov. 2.
Ehimatie named the sports as football, marathon walk, lawn tennis, chess, golf, badminton, squash, ‘ayo’, cycling, table tennis and scrabble.
“In the first edition, just four sports featured while in the second and third editions, it was eight. But now we have 11.
“This is to attract more participation in the Games, because some people can only take part in some sports. So, we hope to keep increasing it with each edition,’’ he said.
Ehimatie said increasing the number of sporting events was a bid to achieve the purpose of the Games. [eap_ad_1] “We had to increase the number, because we want more participation so as to achieve the purposes of organising the games.
“One of the purposes is to ensure that engineers keep fit, so that while they are carrying out their duties, they will do it with a healthy mind to avoid disasters.
“Also, we want to use the Games to create a business platform for our members for them to synergise because they will network through partnership.
“And by increasing the number of events, we stand a chance to achieve all these because we presently have over 1,000 participants in the 2014 Games,’’ Ehimatie said.
He, however, stated that all the events would hold in Abuja, except cycling which will hold in Port Harcourt on Oct. 5.
“The final of the marathon walk will hold on Sept. 13 alongside the indoor games, which will hold at the Indoor Hall of the National Stadium in Abuja.
“For the football event, whose preliminary stages have been held before now, the semi-finals will hold on Oct. 22 at the FIFA Goal Project pitch.
“And the final will be on Oct. 23 at the same venue, while golf will hold at the IBB Golf Club on Nov. 2, before the closing ceremony,’’ Ehimatie said.
He said the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) was planning to increase the number of gifts and monetary rewards for participants.
The Engineering Games is for registered members of the NSE who are competing under their various state branches.(NAN)
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